


be still, my foolish heart

by pouler



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Established Relationship, Knight Lance (Voltron), M/M, Prince Keith (Voltron), broganes, conversations while dancing, secret weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22102405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pouler/pseuds/pouler
Summary: King Keith of Marmora and his head knight, Lance, are engaged, in love, and tired of waiting for their wedding day. Their impulsive natures decide to take care of that.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	be still, my foolish heart

**Author's Note:**

> as per always, i am days late completing this. this is for the day 1 prompt of Klance AU month, found on twitter at @monthlyklance

Lance’s favorite time of the day was after the final meal when night came, when Keith took off his crown and cloak and ceased to be King Keith of the Kogane line, monarch of Marmora, and simply became Keith, a very tired man whom Lance loved with no end, who was very good at his job but always strove to do more, one of the many reasons why his people loved him so.  
Lance enjoyed his own transformation just as much, from Sir Lance of the Royal Guard, head of the king’s safety, who too was good at his job but had to conform to the rules dictated by society that put him in Keith’s shadow. He much preferred being Lance, Keith’s equal and betrothed, widely beloved in his own right by the Marmoran people for his charm and compassion.  
“I missed you today,” Keith said as they finished taking off the bulk of their formalwear. While they hadn’t been hosting any foreign dignitaries, meaning they weren’t in their most formal of uniforms, they had still hosted a proper feast. On his side of their room, Keith placed a deep indigo cloak back into one of his wardrobes, leaving him in a black suit with pale navy sashes crossing in front of his chest.  
“I was with you all day, Keith,” Lance said by way of reply. He placed his own cloak, white instead of royal hues of purple and blue to distinguish his status as a royal knight, where it belonged, leaving him in a simple black suit, before crossing to the empty middle of the room.  
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I missed you any less.”  
Lance smiled, reaching a hand out to Keith.  
“Come here.”  
Keith took Lance’s outstretched hand, and Lance drew him near, laying his right hand on Keith’s waist. Keith’s unoccupied hand came up to rest on Lance’s shoulder, and Lance set them in motion, swaying slowly to nothing but the white noise of regular castle operations and their own steady heartbeats.  
As they slowly waltzed in a small circle in the open area of their chambers, Lance watched the light dance on Keith’s features, creating highlights and contours tinged slightly violet of its own as they passed by the lighting features in the room. His gaze drifted down to the silver ring that sparkled on his left hand, inlaid with a red ruby. He thought of its pair that adorned Keith’s hand, silver with a blue sapphire, and all that they meant, that Keith would never be left to feel alone again, that Lance would be an equal to Keith in status as he already was in ability, from combat training when they were younger to diplomatic situations as they grew older and gained more responsibilities.  
He thought of every day that he woke up beside his betrothed, seeing him bathed in morning sunlight in all his ethereal brilliance, and every night when that same brilliance glowed silver from the moon, and all the days in which he saw Keith handle a sword or diplomacy with equal grace and poise. He thought back to his younger self, who swore he hated Keith while being enamored with his self-assured demeanor and envious of his swordsmanship to the point where he swore to one day best the then-prince. His younger self, who sought belonging and the approval of a prince, and got all that and even love in return.  
“I love you,” Lance said with a soft smile. “To the stars and beyond.”  
“I love you too,” Keith replied. “I can’t wait to be your husband.”  
The words were a refrain that the two repeated almost nightly. Usually, it would follow with Lance saying, “And I yours,” and from there it went a million ways, sometimes back and forths of who was more excited, sometimes long-winded descriptions of their dream ceremony. Yet for some reason, this time had Lance slowing them to a stop.  
“So don’t,” he found himself saying.  
Keith looked at him, looking just as startled as Lance felt with wide eyes and furrowed brows. “I beg your pardon?”  
Lance tried again.  
“Don’t wait.”  
“Don’t wait to?”  
Lance took a deep breath before looking Keith straight in the eye.  
“Let’s get married, Keith. Right now. Tonight.”  
It was the surest Lance had felt about anything in his life, even more so than when he took his oath of knighthood or when he took his oath to protect Keith with whatever means necessary, even his life. This, more than anything else, he knew was his birthright.  
“Are you sure?” Keith asked him, and Lance could see the hope and happiness lighting up Keith’s brown eyes, and Lance couldn’t have loved him more.  
“Of course,” Lance said, his growing smile matching Keith’s.  
\------  
They determined they would ask Shiro, Keith’s older brother figure, to officiate, as it was within his capacity as a commander of Marmora’s knight legion to marry any within the ranks, which Keith and Lance both were. Adam, Shiro’s husband and a commander in his own right, and Hunk, Lance’s childhood friend and a Marmoran diplomat, would be asked to witness. Lance went to rouse Hunk, and Keith went to procure transport from the castle to Shiro and Adam’s manor.  
By the time they arrived under the cover of night, thirty minutes had passed. The three dismounted the speeders Keith had borrowed, stowing them beside the ones already in Shiro and Adam’s possession, then Lance and Keith ran up to the door hand-in-hand, while Hunk followed close behind.  
Keith banged on the door with his fist, then stepped back, holding Lance’s had all the while, fingers fiddling with Lance’s ring, to wait for someone to come and answer his call.  
A few minutes and more knocks from Lance found Adam hauling the door open.  
“Your Highness--”  
“Keith,” he corrected. “Adam, it’s midnight. You know titles are meaningless at this hour.”  
“Okay, Keith,” Adam said. He exchanged greetings with Lance and Hunk, who returned the sentiments, before turning back to Keith. “I’m glad you understand that it’s midnight. Why are you here?”  
“I need Shiro to marry Lance and I.”  
Shiro appeared behind Adam’s left shoulder as though he was summoned. “Sorry, come again?”  
Lance repeated what Keith had already said.  
“You do realize that it’s law that the king’s minister of internal affairs officiates the ceremony?” Adam asked.  
“That’s exactly what I said!” Hunk piped in from behind the younger couple.  
“We know, we know,” Lance said. He raised his hands in a placating motion, but because he was still holding one of Keith’s, Keith’s arm was dragged up in the motion as well. This knocked him slightly off balance before he could right himself once more. What a sight we are, he thought with a laugh.  
Both he and Keith were still wearing the suits they had worn all day, but Keith had grabbed cloaks for both of them, indigo for Keith and navy from Keith’s own collection for Lance, before they departed for warmth and cover. The similar dress in combination with their matching heights and constant attachment to one another meant that from afar, Keith and Lance looked like an amorphous four-legged, two-armed, two-headed person.  
“We don’t need this to be an official, ‘King-Keith-marries-Sir-Lance’ wedding,” Lance continued, letting go of Keith’s hand to add finger quotes around the wedding title before letting both fall down to his sides. Keith reached out and grabbed Lance’s hand once more, and they shot identical smiles at each other before Lance continued once more.  
“I just know that I feel like I’m going to die if I have to wait one more day before I can call Keith my husband,” Lance finished.  
“Yeah, and I don’t want Lance to die,” Keith said. “So we need you to marry us.”  
Shiro sighed. “Of course you two would want a secret midnight wedding.” He and Adam shared a look before they both stepped out of the way of the door. “Come in. We haven’t got much time if you’ve snuck out and no one knows you’re gone.”  
\-----  
The fireplace sang as Lance stepped up to meet Keith in front of Shiro, its crackling replacing the choir that would accompany him in a traditional royal wedding. In this night, however, Keith was not royal; they were simply two young men hoping to tie their fates and their love together. Adam stood to the left of Keith, and Hunk stood to the right of Lance, looking as pristine as they could possibly be with little notice in black suits of their own.  
Keith brushed his right shoulder against Lance’s left, and Lance moved his hand to grasp Keith’s and interlace their fingers together. Keith’s fingers instinctively reached for Lance’s fourth, clearly forgetting they’d intended to switch their engagement rings since they didn’t have wedding bands. Lance felt admittedly incomplete, having gotten used to the comfort of the ring, but he knew it would be more than worth it for the short period of time that he would go without any ring at all.  
“I can’t believe I’m marrying my baby brother in my own home at midnight,” Shiro muttered under his breath, and Keith snorted.  
Shiro raised his hands, palms upward as though to invite the attention of a crowd.  
“Dearest friends and family,” Shiro began, “We are gathered here on this night to celebrate the love and matrimony of these two standing here before me, Keith Kogane and Lance Alvarez,” he said, gesturing to each as he said their names.  
Shiro began a short anecdotal speech, as per the custom of the officiant to offer evidence that the couple should indeed be wed. He spoke of having known Keith since they were both young children, Keith taking on the role of a younger brother to young Shiro. With this role, he said, came the job of having to listen to Keith rant about boys.  
“There was one in particular he couldn’t stop talking about,” Shiro said with a smile. “For the longest time, Keith didn’t know his name, so he would just go on and on about his cocky grin and self-assured swagger and hair that shone ruby gold in the sunlight and blue eyes that shouldn’t even be possible, it’s like he housed an ocean in those eyes, Shiro, but who cared so much about his peers and could keep an eye out for his partner while still fighting and defeating two of his adversaries.”  
Lance laughed at Shiro’s antics and snuck a glance at Keith, whose face seemed even redder in the orange flow of the fire.  
“But there was one day Keith came home,” Shiro continued, “and he told me about this same boy, who had stood up for him when another one of their peers lashed out at him. He told me this boy was the one who stopped him from more violence, who pulled him to the side and talked him down, told him the other kid was lying, that there were people who liked him for who he was, that he was never alone.”  
Lance grew cold, felt the only source of heat in his body from his hand clenching Keith’s. He remembered that day, in training; one of the recruits, James, had taken a dig at Keith, had said that he would always be alone, that he was too cold and serious for anyone to want to be with him. Keith had immediately turned and swung at James, punching him square in the jaw. Lance had been frozen in shock that James would even think of insulting the prince of the kingdom, especially when his insults were baseless, but he jumped into action without thinking once Keith started to move.  
He had grabbed onto Keith’s arm and pulled him away from the chaos that was beginning, asking Keith to keep his eyes only on him and his mind only on what he was saying all the while. Lance had led them to a nook off the main arena of the training area that only he and Hunk used, trusting his best friend to meet him there after everything had settled. Keith had sank to the floor and pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around them, and breathed heavily, seemingly starting to process all that had happened. Lance had sat in front of him cross-legged and reached out to put his hands on Keith’s elbows, not knowing if the other boy wanted to be touched or not.  
“You’re not alone,” Lance had said. “You’ll never be alone. Not as long as I have a say in it. You can be friends with Hunk and I! Hunk’s great at being friends with everyone, and I really want to be friends with you.”  
Lance had talked until Keith’s eyes looked less empty, until he had stopped shaking, until Hunk had come by saying James had been removed from the premises and probably wouldn’t be back. Then Hunk reached a hand down to Keith, still curled up, and said, “Hey, man. I’m Hunk. This is Lance. We’d love to be your friends.”  
Lance had watched as Keith slowly raised his head to meet Hunk’s eyes, slowly reached out a hand to shake Hunk’s. Keith’s “I’d like that” had sounded more fragile than Lance would have liked, but the relief had made his chest clench in anticipation nonetheless.  
“I knew from that moment on that no matter what happened, this Lance kid would have my approval,” Shiro said, with a smile and nod at Lance, who reciprocated. The event in Shiro’s story had happened so long ago that he’d essentially forgotten about it, but hearing Shiro’s side only made him wish that he’d met Keith in better circumstances.  
“I couldn’t ask for a better person to be marrying my brother. Your intuition and protective instincts have been proven a thousand times over, as has been your loyalty. I’ve only seen my brother grow happier the longer he has known you and the closer you two have grown. I wish you all the happiness and joy in your married life, as I am certain you will receive.”  
A soft sniffle came from Lance’s left, and he squeezed Keith’s hand as he smiled at Shiro. He saw Adam reach over and put a hand on Keith’s left shoulder out of the corner of his eye, and, giving his partner some privacy, Lance turned his head to grin at Hunk, who grinned back.  
“Thank you,” he mouthed in Hunk’s direction, knowing his best friend would pick up on his meaning. Hunk did, and he smiled and shook his head.  
“All you,” he mouthed back, and it was Lance’s turn to deny.  
“You helped,” Lance replied with one final smile before turning to Keith and leaning in to press a quick kiss to his cheek. He straightened and faced Shiro, both minutely nodding at one another as they passed a silent agreement, and Shiro proceeded with the ceremony, calling for the couple to recite their vows.  
As Keith would give his vows first in their formal wedding, he and Lance had decided that Lance would go first in the impromptu ceremony. Lance turned his whole body to face Keith, letting go of Keith’s hand as he turned, only to take both in his once he had completed the motion. He took a deep breath and began to speak.  
“In six months, we will stand in front of a minister and swear that our marriage means nothing to our loyalty to Marmora, that you as her dutiful King and I as her dutiful knight will still put this country and its people above even each other, and we will mean every word. But in this room, in this hour, I wish it to be known that nothing will ever be more important to me than you are, for I would not be who I am today, the man whom you love, if it were not for you.  
You would argue that you don’t deserve it, but you do, and you demonstrate that every day. You deserve it because of your gentle kindness, your determination to do good to your people, your thorough understanding. You have always had faith in me, just as you have always had faith in our country and our people. You will be as good of a husband as you are a king, and I will do everything in my power to help you bear your burdens.  
I promise to help you lead the kingdom, protect and defend it, and bring it into the future so that things may be better for our children and the other children of this nation. I promise to never leave you to believe that you are alone in this life; I will be by your side for the remainder of this one and all that are to come. You are the love of my life, my soulmate, and I am yours.”  
By the time Lance had finished speaking, tears were streaking down Keith’s face, softly glinting in the firelight. The wetness on Lance’s cheeks told that he was wearing matching marks of his own.  
“I love you so much,” Keith whispered. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been.”  
“I love you too,” Lance replied with a soft smile.  
Keith reached out and cupped Lance’s face in his hands, thumbs wiping away the few tears that remained, and Lance did the same in turn, before they both returned to holding one another. Keith took deep breath after deep breath, needing assurance that he would be able to say his vows without breaking down in tears again midway through from the sheer amount of joy he felt.  
Finally, he reached a point in which he felt calm, and he began to say his piece.  
“For so many years of my life, I felt that I was alone in this world, that the crown I wore on my head and the title in front of my name meant that no one would ever think of me as an equal, let alone someone worth being with just for me, without the crown or the title. Every moment that I spent with you proved me wrong, in your companionship, and in your affection. Your love will always be my saving grace; it is my North Star, my central guiding light.  
I know that I can be rash and abrasive; I know that sometimes I lose myself in the pressures of the crown, but I also know that I can always count on you to ground me and remind me of who I am and what I am capable of. This kingdom will be lucky to have you as its King, just as it has been lucky to have you as its knight, and I am equally lucky to love you and be loved by you and bear witness to all that you do.  
Years ago, you swore your loyalty to me, swore to place me and my life above you and yours in everything you do. Now I finally swear my fealty to you for as long as I shall live, and even after I leave this mortal plane and return to the stars. You are my equal in every waking thought and sleeping breath, and I swear to be by your side for as long as you will have me. I am yours just as you are mine and my everything.”  
Both Keith and Lance’s tears had returned by the end of Keith’s speech, and once again they went through the process of drying each other’s face. Hand in hand once more, they turned their faces to see Shiro surreptitiously wiping his own eyes. He exhaled once, laughing at himself, and proceeded.  
“It has come time for the exchanging of the rings,” he said, extending his left hand to beckon Hunk forward. Hunk in turn stepped up to Lance and produced Lance’s own engagement ring from his pocket, handing it off before stepping back.  
Lance turned it over in his fingers, feeling the phantom weight of it on his left ring finger now that he was looking at it once more. He reached out and took Keith’s left hand in his own, eyes focused entirely on the task at hand.  
Shiro recited, “Please repeat this after me: ‘With this ring, I give back to you what you once gave to me, so that we may instead share it together, as what was mine is now yours until the end of time. My life and my love will never go without yours from this moment on. Let it be known throughout all the cosmos that with this ring symbolic of our commitment, I wed you, Keith Kogane.’”  
Lance repeated as requested, mind split between focusing on the overwhelming reality that he was finally swearing himself to the love of his life and focusing on placing the ring on Keith’s finger, his own ring, a piece of him now exchanged with the love of his life for his love to protect forever. His mind snagged on the impossible elegance of Keith’s fingers, the soft and worn scars won from intimate familiarity with handling blades.  
He awoke from his trance to see Keith bathed in firelight, brown eyes glinting like the red gemstone in the ring he now wore on his finger, burning with fondness that made Lance’s chest ache. Lance brought Keith’s hand to his lips to kiss the knuckle above Keith’s wedding ring before lowering it and leaving their hands in a loose hold.  
Adam then stepped forward to give Keith the other ring, who took it as he took up the same position Lance had held moments before. Keith held Lance’s hand as delicately as he held the ring, as delicately as he cared for everything.  
Shiro recited the ring vow once more, changing the names, and Keith repeated. The glint of the blue gemstone inlaid in the silver band mesmerized Lance as Keith slid the ring onto his finger; he stared, entranced, until his vision unfocused. He slowly raised his eyes to catch Keith’s raising at the same time.  
Lance switched the grip of their hands so that their fingers were interlaced once more while he brought his right hand up to cup Keith’s face, who closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. Keith’s entire demeanor exuded tranquility and contentment, and Lance’s heart was so full he felt it would burst in that instant, and he decided he was tired of waiting.  
Lance stepped forward, closing the distance between him and Keith, and kissed him. He felt Keith melt into the kiss immediately, felt all his focus shift to the soft lips against his, the smoothness of Keith’s skin against his hand, the weight of his new wedding ring undermining the weight of the moment and Keith’s fingers fidgeting with it once more, grounding both of them.  
As Lance resurfaced from his Keith-induced trance, he could hear both Hunk’s and Adam’s distinct laughs. He forced himself to pull away from Keith, bringing his right hand down to his side. The pair both turned back to face forward, greeted by the sight of an exasperated Shiro, who huffed a laugh while throwing his hands up.  
“You couldn’t have waited to kiss until I presented the two of you? I only have two more sentences to say,” he said.  
“Not my fault I’m finally married to the love of my life,” Lance said with a grin, and Shiro rolled his eyes.  
“Are you going to present us already, or can I kiss my husband again now?” Keith asked, and Lance’s smile grew even wider upon hearing Keith call him his husband.  
“Ungrateful brat,” Shiro said without a hint of malice, and Keith stuck his tongue out at him, which prompted laughter from Adam, Hunk, and Lance.  
Keith looked at Lance and asked, “Why did we have Shiro officiate again?”  
Lance replied, “Because he’s your brother, and you’ve always wished he could have a part in your wedding.”  
“Also, there’s not many people who would perform a secret ceremony for the king and his betrothed at one in the morning,” Adam added from Keith’s other side.  
“Yeah, well, I’m regretting all of that right now.”  
Shiro cleared his throat to bring the attention back to him. He raised his arms as he had at the beginning of the ceremony, inviting the heavens beyond the walls of his home to be guests and witnesses to the matrimony.  
“May the stars and all the heavens shine upon this bond brought before me, its parties sworn allegiance to one another above all else. May they be blessed with good health, security, and fortune, and may they always be as one. As fate has permitted, so I decree. I present to you, husbands Keith Kogane-Alvarez and Lance Alvarez-Kogane of Marmora.”  
As Shiro said the last word, Lance felt Keith’s hand leave his, only to feel two hands on his cheeks seconds later, turning his head as Keith smashed their lips together. Lance relaxed instantly, placing his hands on Keith’s hips as he turned his body to face his husband fully, and what a thought that was.  
He heard three voices cheering over the pounding of his heart, all at varying degrees of rowdiness, but Lance just tilted his head and grinned into the kiss.  
When Keith and Lance pulled back, they were at matching stages of breathlessness, matching stages of pure happiness and joy shining from their faces. Lance swore he had gone through some sort of transformation, brought upon by a blessing from the stars and sealed by true love’s kiss; despite the late hour, he felt awake enough to function for days of hard drillwork, awake enough to journey to the furthest reaches of the kingdom without rest. He felt stronger, more aware than he had ever been, more assured of himself.  
Lance squeezed Keith’s hand, and Keith squeezed back. Despite their formal wedding not being for another six months, with the stars to confirm and all those in the room to bear witness, from this point on, they were one.

**Author's Note:**

> literally have not thrown something like this onto the internet somewhere other than twitter in six, going on seven years, so this has been fun working on different prompts from the au month!


End file.
